Mindful Monday: 5 Inspiring Songs & Quotes To Get You Through The Week

Do you feel beautiful today? Well, you should, because you are! Every Monday, we bring to you Mindful Monday–a collection of quotes and inspirational songs for you to meditate upon throughout the week.

Monday, June 6th: “Beauty In The World”-[lastfm link_type=”artist_info”]Macy Gray[/lastfm]

Photo by David Cannon//Getty Images

No one is in control of your happiness but you; therefore, you have the power to change anything about yourself or your life that you want to change. ~Barbara de Angelis

You can blame other people in your life for your lack of happiness or you can personally take responsibility for the “beauty in the world.” Once you learn how to relinquish control of other people, you will feel a lot happier about yourself and your own actions.

There is almost no spiritual doctrine that teaches happiness as a life necessity. Why? Because having happiness is a choice you make–not a life given.

Optimist: Person who travels on nothing from nowhere to happiness.~Mark Twain

Most people in the world have or had something going on that they could easily complain about. There are those that complain, those that sulk, and those that choose the path of optimism.

When you are optimistic, you can make beauty out of nothing without bragging or complaining about how awesome you are or how hard it is. Optimism might be hard sometimes, but it teaches other people around you to stop dwelling on the negative and actively pursue inner peace. By being an optimist, you are being a revolutionary in this generally jaded world.

Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.~Abraham Lincoln

Being happy is as much a decision as getting up in the morning and deciding to go for a run–an action that can lead to happiness. In order to have happiness, you have to consciously cultivate it. Like a muscle, happiness only gets stronger when you train it.

What this means is that happiness is easier to have than you think, you just have to think about it all differently.

Thursday, June 9th: “If It Makes You Happy”-[lastfm link_type=”artist_info”]Sheryl Crow[/lastfm]

Photo by Lisa Maree Willliams//Getty Images

Everything is material for the seed of happiness, if you look into it with inquisitiveness and curiosity. The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment. There always is the potential to create an environment of blame — or one that is conducive to loving-kindness.~Pema Chodron

Just like Sheryl Crow says (and Pema Chodron hints at), “if it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad.” Sometimes, the things that make us happy, are not the things we think should be making us happy. Well, happiness has no rules; you can’t write a script for happiness. Everything has potential to give your comfortability and peace; try going with your gut instinct and just enjoy what you enjoy.